The present invention relates to a coin supply apparatus for a coin separator, wherein a coin supply control vessel having a coin supply section is attached to the coin carrier vessel of the coin separator; a drive means which can rotate in both directions and a gear are attached to a rotation shaft that makes the coin carrier vessel rotate, and a stopper with an elastic body is installed on one side of the gear so that a uniform quantity of coins may be supplied to the coin carrier vessel. When a coin stoppage occurs due to a coin jammed at a coin separation hole, the drive means rotates in the reverse direction to remove the coin. After releasing the jammed coin, the continued reverse rotation of the drive means is ceased, and the coin separation operation is continued as the drive means is rotated in the normal direction.
In the fields of commercial dealings, the need to sort and separate many coins quickly and exactly according to size is on the increase.
The existing coin separators have problems in that, during the operation of coin separation, coins accumulate at coin carrier holes in the coin carrier vessel or at separation holes in the coin separation valve because coins are supplied to the coin carrier vessel in large quantities at the same time, whereby a coin may stop at a carrier hole or a separation hole and hinder the rotation of the coin carrier vessel. This can also cause a sorting error to occur, e.g., a small coin drops together with a large coin into a separation hole for large ones.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a coin supply apparatus for a coin separator, wherein a coin supply control vessel with a coin supply opening and a coin carrier vessel combined with the above coin supply control vessel are made to rotate; a gear is installed near the bottom of the coin carrier vessel; and a stopper that is combined with the teeth of the above gear is installed near the lower-end part of a rotation shaft on which is mounted a drive means that is rotatable in both directions, so that a uniform quantity of coins are supplied to the coin carrier vessel, and if the falling of a coin stops at the coin separation hole, the drive means rotates in the reverse direction to remove the coin, after which the continuous reverse rotation of the drive means is prevented so that the operation of coin separation can be continuously performed as the drive means rotates in its normal direction.
In a preferred embodiment, the coin supply apparatus of a coin separator of the present invention is used with a coin separator having a base housing a drive means. A rotatable shaft is connected to the drive means and a plurality of coin separation holes of varying sizes are located at a radial distance from the shaft. The coin supply apparatus comprises a carrier vessel mounted for rotation on the shaft, a gear, including a plurality of rounded teeth, mounted on the shaft, and a stopper resiliently mounted adjacent the gear and shaped so as to interact with the teeth to allow rotation in an operation direction and limit rotation in the opposite direction. The drive means is auto-reversing so as to reverse rotation direction of said shaft in response to rotational interference.
The rounded teeth have a semicircular profile and the stopper is resiliently mounted adjacent said gear by a spring (operating in a direction perpendicular to said shaft) and the stopper is cut sharp in a quadrangular form to have a tapered side allowing interaction with said teeth to allow rotation in the operation direction and an opposing flat side (perpendicular to the shaft) shaped for allowing interaction with said teeth to limit rotation in the opposite direction.
The carrier vessel includes a plurality of coin carrier holes at a radial distance from the shaft so as to rotate over the coin separation holes. A concave supply control vessel is mounted on the shaft adjacent the carrier vessel and includes a supply opening on a sidewall thereof to supply a fixed amount of coins. The supply control vessel has an outside diameter that corresponds to an inner diameter of the carrier vessel and is supported within and above said carrier vessel. The shaft, carrier vessel, and supply control vessel are mounted about an axis at an acute angle from vertical. A cover with a central input opening for receiving coins is mounted on the supply control vessel. A recess in said base is dimensioned to contain at least the gear, the teeth, the stopper, and the spring.
It is an object of the invention to prevent the jamming of coins in a coin separation apparatus.
It is a further object of the invention to prevent overloads of a drive means for a coin separator.
It is another object of the invention to prevent sorting errors caused by smaller coins dropping with larger coins.
It is another object of the invention to increase the throughput of a coin sorter by allowing continued operations.
It is yet another object of the invention to automatically prevent coin sorter malfunctions.